Southland motorists who cringe at the thought of paying $4 a gallon for gasoline should probably refrain from driving up the coast to Gorda.

A station in the small coastal town south of Big Sur is selling gas for $5 a gallon.

While it’s a relatively isolated instance – in a relatively isolated town – Southern California gas prices have risen steadily in recent weeks and don’t appear to be headed lower anytime soon.

Industry experts are reluctant to predict exactly how high prices will get. But Tom Kloza, a senior analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, figures Southern California gas prices will top $3.49 per gallon by the spring.

“I believe we’ll have an epiphany and long-overdue rendezvous with reality in the next 60 days where prices may ease,” he said. “But in the spring, I suspect your 2007 record will fall as gasoline races to $3.50 to $3.75 per gallon on the West Coast.”

On Thursday, the average price for a gallon of regular, unleaded gas in the Los Angeles-Long Beach region was $3.30 – just 19 cents shy of the region’s all-time high of $3.49 per gallon on May 9, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Thursday’s average was 4 cents higher than the day before, 31 cents higher than a month ago and 91 cents higher than a year ago.

“The factor that’s influencing gasoline prices first and foremost is the price of crude oil,” Chandler said. “And secondly, while most refineries are up and running, some are in turnaround as they go into winter maintenance, so production isn’t as high as it has been.”

California’s overall gasoline inventories are high, she said, but the state has become increasingly dependent on foreign oil and is therefore more subject to the volatilities that come with that.

Ten years ago, only 5 percent of state’s oil came from foreign sources. Today that percentage is 45 percent, according to Chandler.

“We’re at the mercy of whatever the market will bear,” she said. “And with the problem of the weak U.S. dollar and strong foreign currencies … a lot of other countries out there are dictating what the demand and price for crude will be.”

In recent days, oil prices have hovered ever closer to the $100-per-barrel mark.

In congressional testimony on Thursday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the housing slump and high oil prices, among other factors, will slow economic growth considerably in coming months.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 91 cents to settle at $95.46 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after alternating frequently between gains and losses.

Local motorists aren’t happy about the recent gasoline price hikes.

“They’ve been bouncing around for quite a while,” said Marion Ruiz, 55, of Pico Rivera. “The oil companies are making millions in profits, so why are they raising prices? To me, it looks like like pure greed.”

Juan Barragan, who stopped in at a West Covina Arco station on Thursday to fill up his Nissan Ultima, said higher prices are beginning to cramp his style.

Barragan said it used to cost him about $45 to fill up his car, but now he’s paying $60.

“I’m doing less stuff,” he said.

On Thursday, the cheapest local gasoline price ($3.05 per gallon) could be found at a Valero station on East Foothill Boulevard in Azusa and at a Costco on West Foothill Boulevard in Azusa, according to LosAngelesGasPrices.com.

On the high side, a Chevron station on Whittier Boulevard in Whittier posted regular unleaded at $3.49 a gallon.

And Gorda?

John Rogers, who works at that small community’s Gorda Springs resort, said prices are always higher up there.

“You’ve got the logistics of just getting all the products here,” he said. “We have to generate our own electricity, and all of the gas stations around here have about the same price. My thinking is it’s either expensive … or no gas.”

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.

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